Archive of UserLand's first discussion group, started October 5, 1998.

Re: This bubble has already been burst

Author:Robert Cassidy
Posted:1/6/2000; 10:58:47 PM
Topic:HTML Renderer in the MacOS
Msg #:14170 (In response to 14144)
Prev/Next:14169 / 14171

"Further, there's no sign that Apple has a breakthrough in the pipe. This stuff they're doing is strictly incremental."

It has to be. The world simply doesn't want to be changed that radically. If they totally overhauled the notion of the OS then they'd lose the 10-20% Windows->Mac conversion that they're enjoying now. They actually need to make MacOS more like Windows and yet better than MacOS. I think they came pretty close.

"...and as Doc points out on Cluetrain, everything Apple offers on iTools is available elsewhere without the Mac-only thing. The only innovation is exclusivity."

Hardly. iDisk is fantastic. It's an HFS volume that mounts on my desktop. Nothing at all new to learn. All my apps are fully compatable with it. I can even pluck it off of my Apple menu in 'Recent Servers'. I'm sorry, but you simply can't improve much on that from a consumers point of view.

Blue Mountain Arts cards are, well, horrible looking, and not customizable. There is something nice about dragging a picture to a folder on my desktop and using it on a card with a click or two (wait until Apple comes out with a contextual menu plugin that does it all in one throw).

While the exclusivity of iCards isn't desirable, I just don't think there is any way to get iDisk to work anywhere else and it comes down to exactly the same issue that you raise with not having IE5 on the Mac to help get Manila working better. It's not great, but that's how it is. I'm sure Apple would consider a licensing agreement with MS to allow Windows people to use it.

It's absolutely idiotic to expect that every nook and cranny of the Internet will be open to everyone. It won't ever be, and maybe that's not so bad. iDisk just wouldn't work given current internet protocols. While I'd LOVE to have a backup option to ftp to my iDisk account, I'd much rather have the functionality that it provides than have yet another ftp account.

And come to think about it - with some relatively minor revisions, a NetBootable Mac could boot off of such a volume. Apple could provide everyone with fast connection to the net a free emergency boot disk that they could never lose...

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